“The list is very important if this is going to work for Maine,” King said.

“A lot of that [letter] focuses on local control. I am waiting to see how they respond. The good news is they [federal park service officials] haven’t rejected those ideas, but nothing is on paper, so we will see what their response is,” he added.

Jarvis responded to the Maine delegates’ letter with a letter of his own on Feb. 4 in which he said he appreciated them sharing their thoughts “on what you believe would be critically important considerations ranging from public access to private property rights.”

“One thing I have learned as a governor and as a senator is that this one-size-fits-all [approach] doesn’t fit anybody, so we have to tailor whatever results come here, if any, to meet the needs of the state of Maine and the region,” King said.

The president also must preserve the “robust forestry activities” such as logging, trucking and timber harvesting and give preference to Maine businesses and products in contracting for monument services. The delegation recommended that the U.S. Forest Service “be considered as an agency to oversee” the monument with assistance from a local and state advisory board.

Jarvis’ spokesperson did not respond immediately to a request for comment Wednesday. David Farmer, spokesman for Quimby’s son, leading park proponent Lucas St. Clair, did not say whether the forest service or another agency besides the park service would be acceptable to the Quimby family.

“We have had a number of very productive conversations with Sen. King and his staff, and we believe that we can address the majority of the concerns he outlined in his letter, including protecting traditional outdoors activities,” Farmer said in a statement.

St. Clair has proposed giving about 87,500 acres of family land east of Baxter State Park to the National Park Service, first as a national park and then, when the proposal received heavy state and local government opposition, as a monument.

He met Wednesday with members of the Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce, which supports a monument, before touring the foundry and attending a ribbon-cutting and economic development meeting at DesignLab in which six volunteer economic development groups outlined their progress on other business development issues.

Chamber members clearly favored a monument while a meeting with East Millinocket and Medway selectmen after the Chamber breakfast revealed that the latter “are a little more reluctant,” King said. Both towns voted against a park last year.

He added that “there just needs to be continuing discussion” of a monument despite anti-park sentiments expressed by a majority of area residents. Monument supporters have said that local support is strong and that the monument is a statewide issue.

King said that his tour was unlikely to produce any immediate positive results, but found encouragement in U.S. Department of Commerce officials’ pledge late Tuesday to have an analysis team see what federal aid can come to the region.

The area’s economic problems, King said, “are getting a high level of attention from Washington. That is exactly what we want.”